Category: Hiking

The forecast of bad weather for our normal hiking day of Thursday necessitated a change to the plan, so Wednesday 27 August was proposed instead. The venue selected was the magnificent Cirque du Fer à Cheval at the end of the Vallée du Giffre beyond Sixt.  This drew eight enthusiastic participants and an equal number of notices of absence.

Five of us, Bill, David, Mark 2ts, Mervyn and Pete, duly assembled at the Divonne Lake parking for an 8:30 getaway to rendezvous with Mike M, Peter T, Kobie and Ross at the parking lot at the Cirque. This was achieved by 10am with Mike and his trusty co-driver Nessie arriving in a sleek dark blue Alpina somewhat later.

Unfortunately the organiser had failed to inform the two dog owners that new regulations were in place which prohibited dogs from venturing into the Reserve Naturelle itself.  This meant that the planned hike beyond the area of the valley floor up to the Bout du Monde and perhaps beyond was somewhat compromised.

In the event we all set off up the Giffre valley via Giffrenant as far as the Buvette du Prazon.

En route the threatened afternoon rains began far ahead of schedule (no thanks to MeteoFrance!) requiring the donning of multi-coloured rain gear, frequent pauses under trees for shelter and a welcome coffee stop at the buvette.

Thank you Mike for treating us. The patronne informed us of more rain to come and that the path higher up was exposed and the rock underfoot very slippery and dangerous.

This became the parting of the ways for the dog-owning duo and the rest of us – who were intent on venturing up into the Reserve Naturelle. 

See Below :  Peter’s dog blog.

Back to the exploits of the main group:  By now we were entering the area of spectacular waterfalls descending vertically hundreds of metres on both sides of this glaciated valley.

Not as dramatic as during the spring melt but impressive nonetheless.  Under continuing rain we climbed higher on a path, in parts liberally strewn with sheep shit, until reaching a large dryish cave in the cliff face under a waterfall where we took shelter and enjoyed our picnic lunch. Peter had generously offloaded pretzels and a bottle of Côtes du Rhône, which was consumed appreciatively. A surprising number of hikers/walkers including kids had made it this far on a wet Wednesday, some shod in distinctly sub-optimal footwear.

A little further on from our cave refuge we reached the Bout du Monde 1222m itself with a gate and signpost indicating destinations further and higher: Refuge de la Vogealle 1902m and thence to the Lac de la Vogealle and the Swiss border. We had neither the time nor the enthusiasm to “cross to the other side”.

The afternoon was dry and even partly sunny and the path back down to our starting point, which was over a shaky 30m passerelle and on along the other side of the river, took us two hours. So we were  a little behind our estimated meeting time with the doggers. However we couldn’t resist a celebratory beer at the cafe just above the parking area. 

Mike had already departed but Peter waited to take Ross back since Mark’s car, capacious as it is, could only seat five.  The journey home was swift until we encountered the early evening traffic on the airport to Coppet section of the autoroute.  Our thanks to Mark for once again bearing the driving burden.

Technical details:  Distance 14.5 Km, denivelation 550m,  humidity high (from external rain and internal perspiration)

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Peter’s Dog Blog

Mike Muller and Nessie with me and Kobie had to turn around at Prazon after the coffee stop. Dogs cannot enter the Reserve Naturelle which starts 2.5km up the main valley (and encompassed the area on the outside of the valley bottom from Sixt). I had checked out the trails on Outdoor Active, which had not identified the Reserve, but I had an inkling that this was the case. Mervyn’s “dogs allowed” was not going to work. No worries, as we had had a good start to the coffee stop in the woods to Prazon and by which time water was falling from the sky.

Nothing for it but to circle back down a different, but what seemed like the main tourist trail to the Plan Des Lacs Centre with its nice restaurant Chalet du Fer-à-Cheval. There were plenty of folk about, many with no rain gear.

We entered the Chalet with Kobie barking in excitement, and thus we were offered a suitable table outside, happily under large chalet eaves and which suited us perfectly. A fine glass of IPA for me, an iced tea for Mike and a superb lunch of burger, chips and local sausage ensued, with desert of chocolate mousse and cheesecake. And good and friendly service.

Mike and I had a good chat in the spectacular setting as we watched the rain falling and we felt a bit sorry for our colleagues (Lost) up at the “end of the world” and out in the heavy rain. Kobie and Nessie were well fed with chews and burger bits, indeed Kobie swallowed my chicken wrap (lunch) from the Volg in two goes – without choking.

Mike decided to head back home so Kobie and I headed up to Prazon again in the rain (and this time I put Kobie in his new yellow (Temu) raincoat which I had earlier left in the car) but the downpour eased by the time we got there.

No sign of the Lost so we headed back down the main trail to the car.

It was not long before the Lost became found and Ross and I wended our way back via Tanninges this time, only hitting the slightly heavy traffic before Coppet. A fine walk for us, and I was only marginally miffed that we missed the main hike, but the lunch and shorter hike was great compensation – and our views were stunning too -and K and I were indeed a bit tired from a 900m hike the day before. I think Mike and Nessie were happy too.

I made it 10km and 210m for us.

Eleven hikers (Andrew, Bill, Mark 2Rs, Mervyn, Nathan, Ralph, Richard, Stephen, Peter Solomon, Peter T with Kobie and Peter S as leader) met at the parking lot at the entrance to Vaulion (932m) a little after 9:30am.

The forecast for the day was sunny and hot with a high of 29 degrees. The trail started on the south side of Le Nozon stream then crossed the road to begin the ascent on the east side of the Dent de Vaulion.

After crossing a field, the path (marked by orange dots) entered the woods and up a steep incline with some unusually big steps.

Exiting the forest the hikers adopted Kobie’s strategy of hurrying over sun exposed areas to reach the next patch of shade for a water break.

A large Norway spruce provided some relief and an opportunity for Mark to take a photo of the “shady group”.

After successfully crossing an enclosed meadow marked “Taureau!” the group clambered up a steep section of rocks to reach the top of the Dent de Vaulion (1483m).

Mervyn brought out a bottle of chilled Chardonnay to better appreciate the 360 degrees view over 4, or was it five, lakes (Lac Leman, Lac de Neuchatel, Lac de Joux, Lac Brenet and ?).

There was a short descent to reach the Chalet de Dent de Vaulion for lunch under a partially functioning umbrella. The much-awaited glasses of Boxer pression were graciously passed down the table only to find out that it would take a while for the next round to arrive. This practice soon stopped when the croute aux champignons, pates du chef and mixed salads arrived. The dessert menu included ´tartes du jour’ (abricots au pommes) which were enjoyed with coffee.

The route down went past Cabane de Orny II SAC and tracked back below the Dent de Vaulion.

Although somewhat more in the shade, this path included an unwelcome incline before reaching the track down the ridge on the east side of the Dent.

Kobie and Stephen enjoyed the spring water in the only water trough along the hot and sunny descent.

A sweat drenched group of hikers and one panting dog reached the car park around 4:15pm to complete a hike of 14km, 680m denivele with a hiking time ~4.5 hours.  

The last GIN ascent of the Bellevue in Morgins was in September 2021. Memories from that occasion has meant that a repeat has been discussed many times since. Stephen was in Morgins for August 1st celebrations and so this seemed like a good occasion to ask the weather gods to be kind to facilitate the taxing straight up/straight down hike with the reward of a 360 degree panorama at the summit.

Despite heavy rain a few days earlier and cold and misty weather leading up to the planned date, July 31st started sunny with blue skies and little cloud as PeterT (+ Kobie), Mervyn, Mark2Ts, Ralph and Nathan set off from the Divonne car park. There were apologies from David and Thatcher who preferred to stay across the valley in Villars, several people claiming to be out of the country, one declination on grounds of excessive inclination and unfortunate withdrawals from RichardS and Rob on medical grounds.

Stephen could enjoy a leisurely morning and saundered down to the arranged meeting place for the 09.30h arrival. The core crew arrived ahead of schedule but the planned parking spot had been cordoned off due to Morgins’ preparation for the Fête Nationale, so some rapid arm waving was needed to redirect the cars to a suitable alternative. The group now gathered made a beeline for the local boulangerie for a coffee/tea to give time to mentally and physically prepare for the impending climb.

For those who had already been on this walk before it didn’t take long for the relentless uphill climb memories to come flooding back as we set off up the road. There was a fair amount of car traffic: a reminder that we hadn’t chosen the easiest means of ascent. However, we reached the Col de Culet base camp in good time with our backmarker taking his role seriously.

A break in the clouds with emerging Mark

Base Camp – Portes de Culet 1787m

The weather seemed to be taking a turn for the worse and even though there was no rain, the clouds were moving in and visibility was decreasing. By the time we reached the top after ca. 720m climb, admirably in under 2 hours, the panoramic tableau served only as a useful table for the refreshments and snack that people had brought.

Final push to the top and a false promise of blue skies.

Point de Bellevue (2042m) not living up to its name….. but a useful table

Cava and a Chilean Viognier served as useful lubricant to an assortment of sandwiches, crisps, nuts and some unusual dried chili mango. A toast was raised to our absent friends. A red wine was also available but was left untouched (are we becoming more sensible in our increasingly mature years?) and had to be transferred to a different rucksack, to someone with stronger knees, for the descent. Actually, knees and other bodily ailments were, as usual, a dominant subject of conversation during the day. Top athletes have been known to medicate for increased performance and this group was no exception….PeterT doing it overtly.

3 bad and 5 good knees heading down

On the way down going up.….

The clouds were starting to separate and we caught glimpses of the Dents du Midi with fresh snow on their peaks from recent days as well as the surrounding mountains. Stephen’s promise of “stunning views” was partly fulfilled. The decent down to lunch was steady and less severe than some of the climb and we arrived at the Ferrage alpage almost exactly at the booked time of 13.30h. The multitude of other clients were well into their meals and the car park indicated that most had missed out on the physical exercise pre-cursor. Beers were ordered and consumed and we relaxed in the knowledge that the hard part was over and that it was “mostly downhill” from now on. The Ferrage is not known for light meals and whereas some opted for the substantial fondue and röstis, even the light salad that Mark thought he’d ordered turned out to be sufficient for at least two. Natham probably was wisest in his choice of omelette.

Replenishing the calories

Small omelette, lots of chips.

Happy with his fondue

Yes, the Dents du Midi are over there

Desserts looked meaningful but with the prospect of tarte and biscuits at Chalet “Les Longs” we opted just for coffees before departing.

The descent in Morgins from the Ferrage always surprises tired legs and full stomachs with an uphill section and with a steep road section down to the valley before a final climb up again to “Les Longs”. These ensure that the total climb for the tour passes the 800m. Kate was waiting for us with tea, coffee and promised edibles soon prepared whilst Stephen found some of his homemade beer for those brave enough to try and not driving.

A final stroll back to the village centre to find the cars and complete the circuit. Electronic devices agreed that the total ascent was 814m, exactly the same as 4 years ago and just over 14km. Unlike Mont Blanc, the height of the Bellevue has not changed…..to be reconfirmed in 4 years’ time?

It was time to re-attempt the Parmelan, known to some as the Parmaham, others as the Parmesan. Here was the flyer :-

Dear GinHikers,
For this upcoming Thursday 17 July I am proposing to visit David’s old favourite, not the hard cheese normally grated, but – The Parmelan. The weather forecast looks to be dry. 

Le Parmelan

• Difficulty: Intermediate 
• Altitude: 1,832 m
• Ascent: 2 hours 00 min via the Grand Montoir
• Descent: 2 hours 00 min via the Petit Montoir
• Elevation Gain: 750 meters
• Round-trip: 9.0 km
• Map: IGN 3430 OT
• For viewers :- Richard found this YouTube video showing the itinerary:-
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlvRxdUu9Hg

Parmelan is one of the must-sees of Haute-Savoie. Visible from the surroundings of Annecy, its imposing cliffs dominate and make it a panoramic viewpoint that will amaze any hiker. The ascent by the Grand Montoir is delicate, with passages exposed to heights on a narrow and steep path. Although entirely secured by chains and ramps, the passage can scare people with a fear of heights; I thus advise the use of a rope.

The route I propose describes a loop which starts at the Bois Brûlé parking lot and descends smoothly through the Petit Montoir. The plateau of Parmelan is very sculpted by erosion as chasms and fissures form the lapiaz.

Starting Point: 45.952219, 6.222312

Ascent

On the right of the parking lot, the path gets into the forest and becomes quite steep very quickly. Follow the direction of Chalet Chappuis reached in 20 minutes and already offering a beautiful view of Lake Annecy and Dents de Lanfon. Turn left to reach the junction with the road coming from La Blonnière, and continue again to the left. After a good walk, the trail gives the right to admire Parmelan’s cliffs and runs down to the bifurcation of the Petit Montoir where you take a right towards the Grand Montoir. By entering the Grand Montoir, vigilance is in order: the pathway, although secure, is still difficult.

Indeed the weather was set fair with early clouds forecast to disperse leaving a clear and sparkling day.

Richard had some fore-knowldege of a buvette on the top, which might have attracted more punters, but after receiving many apologies and excuses, some tendentious, some robust, five of us and a dog turned up at the Divonne parking at 9.10am, with Richard joining us later at the start. At the last minute MikeH pulled out for medical check reasons.

Attending : Mervyn, Nathan, Ralph, Steven (Ralph’s brother – a photographer from Blighty and who has been on previous hikes (Incl Le Salève)), me and Kobie with Richard meeting at the Parmelan parking.

As we approach the mountain a herd of cows gave an opportunity to take this shot from the car:-

As we drove up the zig zag mountain road, cars in front and behind foretold that there would already be a number there and indeed it was a pretty crammed parking lot (at 1167m) as we arrived, but there was room for us all. Clearly the Parmelan was going to be busy today, but I saw this as a good sign in that here is a hike really well worth doing.

Richard arrived shortly after us and we assembled for the task ahead, 700m of up, steady at first but getting steeper and a little tricky in the Grand Montoir. The weather was perfect and the team were in high spirits, including Kobie who was pleased to be back in the peloton.

At Chalet Chappuis the views are expansive and give only a hint of what is to come. We continued steadily up stopping for a drink at the 1500m level before the path bifurcates, Grand Montoir to the right, Petit Montoir (and our descent route) to the left.

There are notices here that the paths are dangerous in winter when the gulleys are snowed up, as when twenty five years ago or more I recall they were badly verglassed and Jill and I retreated.

And so to the crux section of the Grand Montoir and I fixed Kobie on his leash. There were a number of parties ahead of us, but all moved steadily up in good humour.

The path steepened and some exposure began to be felt. A stout wire was available for pulling on or just for balance.

We zig zagged up the steep trail, passing some, allowing others past us.

We all regrouped after the main section and took the final steep section at leisure – well almost. Soon at the col, Kobie looked for shade while we regrouped again.

A notice stated that dogs should be on a lead as the chickens thereabouts are aggressive, so I retained him on the leash. The team all looked in good shape and I think had enjoyed the mild excitement of the steep path cut in rock. So we tootled up the remaining 80m to the hut at the top – the Chalet Hôtel C.Dunant, next to the Croix de Blondet.

There were quite a number of folk at the top, enjoying the fine views. As Richard had predicted the restaurant/bar was open and we went inside to escape the sun. Ralph ordered large beers for us all which were cool and refreshing.

Suitably refreshed we set off to conquer the actual summit of the Parmelan, not far off.

It was time for lunch and we found some suitable rocks close to some shade for Kobie. Some red wine was shared and we did toast absent friends. They were missing a real classic. Kobie benefitted from Richard’s suasage and apple.

We all agreed that the fluid from Richard’s bottle was indeed excellent. Sirin Lingonberry liqueur from Finland.

Well refreshed and in a merry mood we upped sticks and set off back down to the col. An alternative but longer route traverses the lapiaz, but this was not needed today.

We had some astounding views over to the big hills, with Pointe Perćee not too far off. It was warm and Kobie, having escaped from the aggressive chickens, took time to shelter from the sun.

We stopped as Steven expressed signs of cramp, and he took on some mag tablets. This would not have been of interest for this record but for what happened shortly afterwards. We set off back down the trail towards the Petit Montoir and within 5 minutes or so at the front I heard news from the back that Steven had turned back; he had left his camera on a rock when we had stopped. Very shortly after a young lady appeared holding Steven’s camera. We thanked her profusely. (Richard believed she had looked at the photos in the camera and recognised us from crossing us in her ascent).

All that was needed was to recover Steven. We called him by phone and he was soon reunited with his beloved camera, relieved if not over the moon.

The trail descends gradually and then traverses back under the cliffs to the junction with the path up the the Grand Montoir. It was here that the kind lady gave Kobie some water from her pouch. We moseyed on down to the Chappuis Chalet where chickens were wandering among the hikers.

On the final trail Kobie took an early bath.

We were soon back at the car and rehydrating. It had been a warm hike, getting hot finally.

We said farewell to Richard and all the other fellow hikers we had been meeting on the trail, before driving back to Divonne (1 hour, no trouble) and then over to Mervyn’s for some cool beer in the garden.

A super hike in great weather, fantastic views and great comapny. I had 701 m (not 750m ?) and 11.5km (not 9km ?). My monitor also showed I had got my heart into level 5 (145 bpm and over) for 30 seconds. This rarely happens on hikes…. And Kobie slept well that night. Thanks for the fun everyone.

We had originally planned this hike 4 weeks ago on May 22 but the forecast of rain and coolth forced us to adopt plan B, a gentle walk from Morges to Ouchy.

This time the weather forecast was great: wall to wall sunshine and temperatures between 15 and 20 degrees at the top of the gorge. But there were many apologies, ranging from “going to see a man about a knee” to fear that it would be too hot for hiking. After all the apologies we were down to a planned energetic eight. Then there were more apologies the night before the hike: two complained of stomach bugs, one with too much detail, and one feeling generally tired (turned out to be Covid so almost acceptable). So we were down to the fab five: Mervyn, Peter S, Ross, 2 Marks.

We duly assembled in Divonne at 07:45, climbed into one car and set off. The early start was in case of delays getting to, and on, the autoroute. In fact it took us 15 minutes to get to the autoroute. After that the journey was relatively easy and we arrived at Noiraigue at shortly after 9:30.

The station at Noiraigue has got a new loo, all high tech with an illuminated push button for every function (further detail suppressed). It was almost worth the drive just to inspect the loo, but that was not the intended purpose of the trip so, all booted up, we set off on the climb to the top of the gorge.

We soon entered the woods and then the path climbed steadily. Those of us familiar with this hike knew that the steady incline was just to give a false sense of confidence. Pretty soon we reached Les Oeillons where the path makes an abrupt left turn and starts climbing more seriously. The path from here is called the Sentier des Quatorze Contours and, sure enough, the path zig-zags 14 times before getting to the top. Each bend is labelled with a number on a tree (is this new? I’ve not noticed these numbers before) which is a great psychological help on the climb. Also the length of successive zigs, or zags, gets shorter so by bend 7 we are well over halfway up this section. At one point we found a, not very horizontal, bench and all managed to perch on it, with difficulty.

Eventually we came out at the top with fabulous views over the gorge.

From there it was only a gentle uphill, then downhill all the way, with plenty of photo stops, till we got to the restaurant for lunch.

We arrived a La Grand Vy exactly at the reserved time of 1 o’clock and found a pleasant shady table.

Ross had brought a picnic but joined us shortly afterwards with a maths problem for the resident geek.

Essentially take any 4 digit number and rearrange the digits highest to lowest and lowest to highest. Subtract one of these from the other to give a new 4 digit number and repeat the procedure. This ultimately produces 6174. I was asked to chose 2 four digit numbers and process them in parallel. By pure chance I chose 1357 and 2468 which both generated 6174 after a single iteration but I’m assured that any other 4 digit number, without repeating digits, will eventually get there. I’ve still got to check this out.
1375 => 7531 – 1357 = 6174
2468 => 8642 – 2468 = 6174

About 14 kms hiking with 774m denivelation. A good hike in beautiful weather and well worth the drive.

It was to have been the Parmelan. But the weather forecast was not the best, albeit I kind of promised dry weather. So 6 of us showed up at 9.30 at the Divonne Lac parking, with Kobie. And Stephen met at 9.50 at Genolier, hoping for a gentle hike. I had hinted at 700m or so, with a gist of a plan to come down by train from St Cergue back to Sus Chatel.

Attending : Nathan, RichardS, Mark2ts, StephenL, BillW, Ross, and me PeterT, and Kobie. Apologies and excuses had been received from many, mostly plausible.

The forecast seemed to have worsened but almost 43% turned out in optimistic shorts.

We commenced by crossing the train track and heading up alongside the streamway where Kobie got some refreshment. After a slight break to take in the intimate stream landscape we continued on up, those at the front wettened by the close damp green leaves enfolding the path.

We soon arrived at Rob’s Gully, famous to the cognoscenti – which the team were rapidly becoming. At the top the path levelled out and a discussion ensued on prime numbers, in particular 17 which is a special number. And the fraction 1/17 has a coninually repeating 16 string decimal, a repetend.

153 is also an important number related to 17. Mark had some irrational pronouncements about rational numbers which none of us could make head or tail of. It all made for some light relief to the light rain which was beginning to fall.

No rest for the wicked and we continued up in what could have been Amazon rain forest. Muggy sticky and green.

The rain became a little heavier but it was not cold and we topped out at the Arizier Road in good order. A short stretch along the road, now partially in the cloud and driving rain, took us to the right turn which led through fields then into the upper forest. It was at this juncture in the lee of a large hedge, that the leader relented and offered the team a vote – to bail out and go directly to St Cergue for a pizza etc, as it was about midday already. We were saved by Mark’s phone which showed that the rain was about to end and that we could expect at least a two hour (relatively) dry spell. Vote cancelled!

What that meant was another 5 km and 300m ascent to the Fruitières de Nyon. The leader had a perception that the team were beginnng to become subdued, little was spoken as we trudged higher. A short revitalising stop was permitted before the final stagger up to the FdN under cloud and some wind, but no actual rain.

It was almost 1pm. We were alone and had several tables to spread out over, but huddled together for companionship.

At some stage black (or perhaps red) kites swirled over us in the maelstrom. A nesting pair of swallows were seen on the roof of the FdN itself.

A pleasant lunch, nobody choked so I (or they) did not need to use my LifeVac (I did provide a short demonstration just in case, as I had bought another soggy wrap from the Volg). Nathan helpfully suggested that I could reduce my choking risk by not choosing the soggy wraps. Mark offered strong black coffee and Nathan his Japanese whisky. Kobie had some good chews and part of a pork pie.

We were ready to go. The plan now was simply to descend to St Cergue the easist way, avoiding the intial steep and damp path. We took the road down.

We took the trail right past the youngsters on their zip wires at Basse Ruche and arrived in St Cergue at 2.38pm just after the train had left. Undaunted we tramped over to the boulangerie café (Le Ptit Gourmand) where Richard treated us all to a warm cuppa (each!).

Richard had not yet paid just as we realised we had 2 minutes before our 3.07pm train was due to leave. We held the door for him just as it was leaving and we settled down for the comfortable train ride back down the mountain.

From Sus Chatel it is only a short hop back to the cars.

Another memorable hike, which Kobie and I do quite regularly, but I found quite hard in the conditions. Both Kobie and I were exhausted that evening.

12 km. 740m or so of ascent.

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Posting a Comment later from Mark:-

I can’t let an opportunity for a bit of maths pass so here’s what I think the guy was saying about 17 (already shared part of this with Peter). Also here’s a proof that any number with repeating digits must be rational.

1. The decimal expansion of 1/17 repeats after 16 digits
   1. Perform the division by hand. Write out a few lines
              0.0588
      17) 1 00
                85
                150
                136
                  140
                  136
                      4
   2. At each step there is a subtraction with the result (highlighted in red) must be less than 17. If the result is zero the decimal expansion terminates. If it is a repeat of a previous result the decimal expansion repeats from here. Therefore the repeat length can’t be greater than 16 
   3. In general for any integer, n, the maximum repeat length must be n-1 and is usually shorter. I believe it must be shorter if n is not a prime since if n = r * s the maximum repeat length should be the product of the repeat lengths of r and s, i.e. (r – 1) * ( s – 1) < n – 1
   4. The repeat length is not always n-1 if n is a prime.  c.f. 2, 3, 5, 11, also 13 (repeat = 6). So 17 is the smallest prime with this property.

2. Any decimal with repeating digits must be a rational number (ratio of 2 integers)
   1. Assume X has repeating digits with a repeat length of n digits
   2. X may have some digits before the repeat starts, e.g. 1/6 = 0.1666…
      Subtract off these digits and then multiply by powers of 10 until it is of the form 
      Y = ( X – X₀ ) * 10^m = 0.a₁a₂…a_na₀a₁…a_n…
      above is not strictly necessary but simplifies the next step
   3. Now calculate Z = 10ⁿ Y – Y = a₁a₂…a_n, an integer
   4. Now work backwards
      Y = Z / ( 10ⁿ -1 )
      X = Y / 10^m + X₀ = Z / { 10^m ( 10ⁿ -1) } + X₀ , clearly a rational number
      
   5. As an example  try X = 3.142857142857…
      X₀ = 3, m = 0 , n = 6
      Y = 0.142857142857…
      Z = 10⁶ Y – Y = 142857 an integer
      Working backwards we get
      Y = Z / 999999 = 0.142857142857…  = 1 / 7
      X = 3  1/7  =  22 / 7  

Once again, thanks for a great hikeand for some mental stimulation., Cheers, Mark

12 good men and true assembled at the Col du Marchairuz for our GIN hike. 2 hounds also assembled who were good in parts but not in the least true!. We had some extremely welcome participants who had not been available recently in the form of Rudy P,  Rob Pashley (again with non matching boots), Thatcher and Peter Drew. Stalwarts include Peter Taylor, Nathan F, Ross Linsley, Mervyn P, Peter Strebel, David Colledge, and Richard Saynor and myself. The canine section was as usual Kobie and Rocco. The weather was somewhat overcast and on the cool side but Peter T’s forecast ice age failed to materialise. No rain fell. 

The assembled company set off more or less on time, descending behind the hotel towards the Valley de Joux before heading off to the southwest.

There were a number of ‘competing’ groups on the trail who were quickly overtaken and we soon reached the turning point where we crossed the ridgeline on to the lake side of the Jura.

We then had a gently declining stroll back towards the Col, appropriate for the gently declining GIN members, before beginning the ascent back up to the hotel. The last part of the walk was a fairly steep ascent which split the group for a while before we reunited at the Hotel for lunch. Three had to depart early but 9 of us assembled for lunch in the very convivial Hotel du Marchairuz.

Beers were had before the Wine Committee (Peter Drew and Thatcher) chose a highly quaffable red. The croute au fromage soufflé came highly recommended and the entrecôte was also approved of, not least by Kobie. Pig’s ears were found most acceptable by both Rocco and Kobie.

We tried to avoid talking about Donald Trump and mostly succeeded. Lunch can fairly be described as convivial.

Distance walked was approx 11 kilometres and vertical height gained was 350 metres.

Rob and I did discuss a plan for later in the summer which involve starting at St Cergue and walking to the Hotel du Marchairuz and staying overnight before walking down to the Vallee de Joux and taking a train back via Vallorbe. Early stages but we are thinking of perhaps July. We will do our research and come back with a firmed up proposal.  

Nathan organised this excellent hike warning us however, in view of the uncertain weather forecast, to “be prepared”. He recommended us to refer to Philip’s description of the terrain, from his 30 March 2023 blog. See below in blue. (Philip also reported in 2023 that his search of the “dusty GIN blog archives” revealed that a similar hike was organised in June 2018 by David Colledge. There were three participants then, an indication of the significant increase over the last 5 years in GIN hiking interest.) I note that David wrote – Lunch in La Cave de la Ferme in nearby Frangy – highly recommended with 4 course lunch at €16.50.

Further research into the dusty GB archives showed that David organised another hike up the far end of the Vuache in May 2019 from Chevrier with 4 attending. David wrote “altogether about 3.30hrs followed by a very reasonable lunch at Restaurant du Vuache.”

Philip : “The Vuache is a long lean mountain. Not at all a Fujiyama. Not even a Môle. But I see it every morning from my kitchen balcony. And it tells me what the day’s weather will bring. Geologically it’s part of the Jura range. Good Jurassic limestone, no doubt riddled, like the Salève, with water-filled cavities. And maybe bottomless potholes that nobody has explored. But physically it’s an isolated mountain, cut off eons ago by the melt waters from the immense Rhone Glacier that filled the whole Lemanic basin. And it holds secrets known only to those who explore it in early Springtime.”

On that hike in March 2023 hike we were 11 : two Marks, PeterT, Nathan, Rudi, Richard, Mike M, Ralph, Drew, Mervyn and Philip and hounds Kobie and Nessie. On this hike we missed Mark 2ts, Rudi, Richard, Mike M (and Nessie) and Mervyn. We added on this occasion Mike H (and Rocco), Stephen and Ross and were thus 9.

(I was told that several absent members have poor knees – at least they gave that as an excuse to Nathan. I can only recommend daily taking Pernaton tablets – they have saved my knees. )

https://www.pernaton.ch/en/produkte/produktubersicht

Unhappily the timing this year was different, it not being early Springtime. So we missed the wonderful display of daffodils (that we had seen two weeks ago on Mark’s Dôle hike). And unhappily too the warm sunshine we had enjoyed two weeks ago was missing and we experienced instead a cold dry and windy day almost exactly as per 30 March 2023.

It did not start that way as there was some weak sunshime as we ascended the ridge from Chaumont attempting to catch up with Philip who had started 15 minutes earlier.

We caught Philip up after about 300m of ascent. He was gayly and gently elevating himself up the ridge, stopping to take close-up photos of the plants he loves (not daffodils though).

Philip writes : –

Thursday’s ascent was the first time that I had seen wild orchids actually in flower on the Vuache. Having given myself a 15 minute head start on the peloton, I had time to photograph them (and have a breather!). The GIN plant enthusiasts, of which I’m sure there are many, will no doubt welcome this botanic addition.

I have given the relevant plant names to the photo files. I’ve also added one non-orchid, Sainfoin, the reason being that it’s a real beauty, whose identity had me initially confused until PlantNet put me right.

At one point Ralph kindly offered us all a cup of his hot strong black (and good value) coffee. Excellent! I almost did not miss Mervyn and his milk.

At a large green field two chamois (or deer according to Mark) broke cover and Kobie went off to investigate but soon came back. It was not long however before he found a leg bone of a deer (or chamois) left by hunters and he and Rocco spent some time arguing over who should eat it. Both won.

We wandered on up along the woodland path which traces the spine of the hill, in places steep and rocky. I spotted only 3 daffodils still in flower, but there were many other flowers (Philip will tell us).

On the way up we had noticed a picnic table at the top of the green field and members retraced steps back to it, keen to tuck into some warming sustenance and whatever wines were on offer. In this case a Nero d’Avola and a Rasteau. Drew of course had his flask, but we missed Richard and his abominable bottle.

Philip wrote 2 years ago :- There was no handy auberge nearby, so we ate our picnics (in a particularly windy spot) with extensive views over the Rhone Valley and in the distance the Plateau de Retord. This time we had the same wind and views, but the advantage of a (slanting) table that sat 8 of us, albeit we were 9.

All too soon it was over. No time or inclination to discuss Scottish independence. This was a time of Trump Tariff madness.

On the return, we initially retraced our steps but then Nathan again deviated down the steep western slope of the Vuache, fortunately relatively dry and unslippery. This took us through the hamlet of Chaumontet and back to the village of Chaumont. (most of this para was copied from Philip’s 2023 blog).

We passed some very young climbers about to start out on the training rock slabs.

Another enjoyable hike on the Vuache, despite somewhat inclement weather and gone daffs. About 10km and 546m denivellation. Thanks Nathan.

Attendees – MikeH and Rocco, Mark2rs, Drew, Stephen, Ralph, Philip, Ross, PeterT and Kobie, Nathan (Leader).

(I’ll post other pics if folk send me any – or do it yourself if you can. PT)